UK exports of goods to the EU have fallen by £20bn compared with the last period of stable trade with Europe, according to official figures marking the first full year since Brexit.
Numbers released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the combined impact of the pandemic and Britain’s exit from the single market caused a 12% fall in exports between January and December last year compared with 2018.
Highlighting the disproportionate impact of leaving the EU, exports to the rest of the world excluding the 27-nation bloc dropped by a much smaller £10bn, or about 6% compared with 2018 levels.
Despite the disruption, the EU remains the UK’s largest trading partner. However, for the first time since comparable records began in 1997, the UK now spends more importing goods from the rest of the world than it does from the EU. » | Richard Partington, Economics correspondent | Friday, February 11, 2022
Brexit was a dumb idea from the very start. Nobody who understood even economics 101 would have voted in favour of Brexit! Nobody in his right mind would vote in favour of walking away from the largest market in the world: the European Single Market.
The likes of Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg will profit from it, no doubt. But the rest of us will pay only a very high price. The electorate has been led down the garden path, the path that leads to no good place, the path that will eventually lead to the impoverishment of our nation. But hey, people like Farage and Rees-Mogg will be sitting pretty. So the people, das Volk can go to bed at night in the comforting knowledge that we now have our blue passports back and crowns on our pint glasses of beer in pubs! Whoopee! They may go to bed hungry, but what a bonus already! And, furthermore, BoJo got the keys to Number 10. Alas, he hasn’t yet been unable to figure out how to do the job that the privilege of living in Number 10 brings with it.
If the people in charge had any smarts, they’d figure out a way of reversing this stupid decision. Pronto! But I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. The people at the very top will be too proud to admit the error of their ways. – © Mark
